The Queen Bee
"The Queen Bee" is the second episode of the Eighth Season of Father Brown. Summary Bee Keeper Beatie May, a flamboyant outgoing over protective mother is found dead in a smoke filled room. Mallory arrests her son because of recent accidents involving his mother. May had recently changed her will leaving a diamond hidden on her property with a coded anagram that her son could decipher. Brown suspects, Miss Slither, her neighbour of sixty years; a missing cake and a photograph of a soldier killed in the first world war who was May's gardener provide the answer. Plot Father Brown visits Beatie May to inquire about obtaining some of her homemade honey for Mrs McCarthy. The pair are interrupted by Eileen Slither, Beatie's long-suffering neighbour who has come to complain about bees nesting in her roof. Upon inspection, Beatie informs her that the visitors in Miss Slither's roof are some birds, not bees. However as she descends the ladder, one of the rungs breaks off and she falls off and breaks her leg. A few days later, Beatie is released from hospital. Bunty, Mrs McCarthy have been assisting Beatie's adopted son Shambu to tidy up the house as well as to move Beatie's bed downstairs. Eileen arrives with her niece Hannah to present her with a well-intentioned but poorly executed battenberg cake. Once everyone else has left, Beatie requests Bunty to kill the ill queen bee of her main hive on her behalf, citing that she is unable to due to being confined to a wheelchair and Shambu being terrified of bees. Bunty's initial attempt fails and she is stung. Back at the presbytery, Mrs McCarthy mentions that Beatie is having her solicitor round later on. Ronnie Grunion, a rather dubious solicitor arrives to Beatie's home. She informs him that she wishes to make an amendment to her will, specifically concerning a vast wealth that she wishes to leave to Shambu. However her distrust for both banks and Ronnie have led her to hide the treasure somewhere in the house. She wishes to leave a message to Shambu consisting of apparent gibberish that she believes that he will decode and find the treasure. Later on, after Ronnie has left, a figure adorned in Beatie's beekeeping outfit enters and proceeds to kill Beatie by smothering her with a pillow. Bunty heads over to Beatie's with a casserole and to finish killing off the queen bee when she notices Shambu rummaging through the alcohol cupboard. Upon presenting the casserole to Shambu, the pair smell smoke and investigate, they end up finding Beatie's body in a smoke-filled room, the result of the bee smoker being left on the table by the killer. Weighing up potential suspects, the main two are principally Eileen, stemming from 60 years of putting up with being here neighbour; and Shambu who Bunty had seen with the alcohol yet he claimed to not drink. The pair acknowledge the large bust of the Maharajah of Malpur, Beatie's employer during a stint in India, the same place she adopted Shambu. Father Brown speaks to Ronnie who mentions Beatie's request to change the will and the fact that he didn't take the coded message earlier, and that said message had now vanished. After Ronnie goes to have his statement taken, Father Brown takes this moment (citing Inspector Mallory being occupied) to explore the shed. Inside, he finds the ladder from which Beatie had initially fallen off, he discovers that the rung that broke had actually been sabotaged. Later on, Ronnie invites Shambu, Father Brown, Bunty, Mrs McCarthy, Eileen and Hannah to his office to discuss the execution of Beatie's will which she had chosen to pre-record with audio. She bequeaths various items to Father Brown, Bunty and Mrs McCarthy; a sum of £100 to Eileen and Hannah (complete with one final insult for Eileen from beyond the grave). The estate is left to Shambu, furthermore, she announces that he was not adopted as a peasant orphan in India, but is in fact the son of the Maharajah of Malpur. Beatie reveals that the hidden treasure is a very large diamond, however does not disclose any clues in the recording. At that moment, Inspector Mallory walks in and arrests Shambu on suspicion of murder. At the police station, the Inspector explains that he suspects Shambu of making several attempts on Beatie's life, citing the sabotaged ladder and that her alcohol had been laced with laxatives. Shambu explains to Father Brown that he did sabotage the ladder and spike the whisky, but only as pranks. Beatie had orientated the ladder the wrong way round, causing her to fall from a greater height than Shambu had intended. He explains that these pranks were done out of pure frustration at being kept akin to a bird in a gilded cage. He recounts overhearing Beatie and Eileen arguing over something which prompted an irate Eileen to storm out. Father Brown reassures Shambu he will help him. Father Brown goes to see Eileen to ask about the argument that Shambu had overheard. Whilst the pair were conversing, Beatie recalled about her family having a gardener who was a conscientious objector during the Great War. Beatie found out about that fact, told her father whom promptly fired the gardener which shamed the latter into enlisting and being killed on the Western Front. The revelation was what provoked Eileen's anger. Later at Beatie's funeral a swarm of bees approaches the congregation, however the bright clothes being worn (at Beatie's request) stops anyone from being stung. Later on, Father Brown, Bunty and Mrs McCarthy search the estate looking for clues and the missing cipher. Mrs McCarthy notices how odd that the bee smoker was left behind, whereupon the trio find Ronnie hiding in a wardrobe, he has been looking for the missing message. Father Brown notices in Beatie's open diary "6th June, 1pm - My Cup Runneth Over - H", Father Brown immediately heads next door to speak with Hannah. She informs him that she was angry at the way Beatie was treating Shambu and was desperate to help him. She had written Shambu a letter and received a response telling her to meet at a tearoom called "My Cup Runneth Over". However, it was Beatie instead who turned up, she proceeded to insult Hannah and mock her naiveness before warning her to stay away from Shambu. Father Brown returns and the others have managed to lift the message from the markings on the writing pad that Beatie had written the original. Father Brown recalls that Beatie was teaching Shambu to play chess, and they manage to crack the cipher, leading them to the bust of the Maharajah, however they don't find the diamond. They opt to try the code from a different starting position, which advises Shambu to face his fears to find the diamond, his fears lead them to the beehive. Unfortunately, someone has got to it before them, and the beehive has been destroyed and the diamond taken, likely by the killer. An offhand comment by Ronnie about Beatie and himself stubbing cigarettes out on Eileen's battenberg proves to be a key piece of evidence. Father Brown then heads over to see Eileen, but only finds Hannah. He notices an old photograph of Beatie's house with a man standing outside, on the reverse side, is a portrait photograph of the same man. Father Brown manages to crack the case and heads back to Beatie's home, he finds Eileen in Beatie's bedroom trying on the latter's vast wardrobe. He reveals to her that he knows that Eileen was in love with Beatie's gardener, Beatie had discovered their relationship and promptly got the gardener fired and mocked him for his cowardice. The argument that Shambu had heard earlier was Beatie acknowledging to an unaware Eileen that she was the one who effectively killed the person she had loved. In retaliation, Eileen killed Beatie, when she saw that her battenberg had been defaced by the cigarette stubs, she took it (along with the code) to avoid people laughing at her poor baking skills. Father Brown attempts to get Eileen to seek repentence, however she feigns remorse and attempts to make a run for it, only to be stopped by Bunty and Mrs McCarthy. A few days later, Father Brown invites Shambu and Hannah to tea. Shambu reveals he intends to keep bees, in spite of his fear for them. Hannah offers her assistance and its clear that a romance is slowly blossoming. They all then proceed to toast to the bees as one flies overhead.